tf
M
IV
I
6
vono in the case of tho government before the
court of appeals, which la charged with the execu
tion of tho decree, and that court denies his right
to intervene. Its reasons are that Hi la pwn,
which is tho plan of tho Northern Seeurltio direc
tors, is not violative of decree, that no one but too
United States can successfully appeal to tnocourt
to enjoin the execution of tho plan on the ground
that it violates the Sherman law, and the United
Statos exprosses satisfaction with the decree, that
tho stock of tho railway companies is not in pos
session of tho court, and that an Intenrontton is
not necessary to protect any pecuniary interest or
oouity. Tho court assumed when it issued tno ue
creo that the stockholders of the Securities com
pany 'would ho ablo and likewise disposed to
mako a disposition of the stock which under all
tho circumstances of tho case would ho fair and
just.' It now objects to any modification of a ae
creo that has becomo final, and indicates that an
controversy at this time would properly form tho
subject mattor of an independent suit between tho
parties immediately interested."
THE houso of commons has voted to Increase
duties on tea and tobacco sufficient to more
than mako up tho doflcit confronting the British
government This vote was in lino with the rec
ommendations made by Austin Chamberlain. A
London cablogram to tho Chicago Record-Herald
says: "Mr. Chamberlain estimated the expendi
tures for 1904-G at $714,400,000 and tho revenue on
tho basis of existing taxation at $695,300,000, leav
ing a deficit of $19,100,000. Tho ,new tobacco
chargos impose a duty of 81 cents on tobacco
stripped before imported, and an additional duty
of 12 cents on cigars and 25 cents on foreign ci
garettes. Tho additional tax on tea is 4 cents a
pound. Tho majorities for tho respective meas
urcs wero 94 and 72 respectively."
TH B Hill currency bill has been favorably re
ported to the house. The purpose of this
bill is said to bo "to improve currency conditions."
The "Washington correspondent for the Now York
Herald, referring to this measure, says: "Tho
measure is of considerable importance, because it
is likely to' form tho basis of legislation changing
tho currency laws to bo pressed by tho leaders
of both branches in tho short session of con
gross after tho national election. It provides for
tho deposit of customs duties as well as all .other
public recoipts in tho national banks, and, there
fore, for a uniform treatmont of all public moneys.
For the repeal of so much of tho national banking
act of 1882 as prohibits the deposit of more than
$3,000,000 during one month, thus removing the
limit of retirement of national bank circulation.
For tho rocolnago of standard silver dollars, now
stored in the treasury, into subsidiary coin to
whateyor extent may bo deemed necessary to meet
public requirements. For tho issue of $10 gold
certificates, tho lowest denomination now being
$20. For the issue by national banks at discre
tion of $5 notes instead of being limited to on
third of a bank's issuo of that .denomination. It
is not at all likely that the bill will be passed at
this session."
A READER of Tho Commoner from Gaston,
Ore., writes: "I have boon reading about
somo kind of mineral which seems to bo very
costly, tho name of which is radium. I would,
like to know what the ore looks like and whether
it is found in rocks or clay." A cablegram to tho
Chicago Trlbuno, under date of London, April 12,
may provide this reader with tho information ho
desires. Tho cablogram follows: "Prof. Sir "Wil
liam Ramsay, in an interview, says radium, in
stead of being, a primeval substance which has
boon slowly disintegrating since the world be
gan, 1b merely a temporary phase of matter in the
unstable resting point of a series of transmutations
of which nobody knows tho beginning or end or
meaning. Experiments made by himself and Prof
Soddy, ho says, tend to show it would all disin
tegrate and vanish 1,150 years hence. Tho rate of
disintegration does not depend upon tho quantity
existent. It would all vanish whether it measured
a cubic inch or a cubic mile, forming in the pro
cess other substances, the only one at present
known being helium. It -was obvious,, therefore,
that radium must now be in tho course of produc
tion. If it had been an original deposit it would
have disappeared long ago. It is the merest spec
ulation to discuss how it is produced. Nobody
ho Bald, knew, but possibly it came from uranium!
That radiuna bearing ores, with as great activity
as those of Europe, exist in tho United States has
been demonstrated by Prof. Robert A. Millikan of
the University of Chicago. After an elaborate
series of tests upon specimens of pitchblende, tho
The Commoner.
uranium ore from which radium is extracted, Prof.
Milligan has found that samples from Colorado
and North Carolina show radio-activity as,great as
tho ores of the celebrated Joachlmsthal in Ger
many, from which the wdrld's supply has hereto
fore been obtaineJ."
ON APRIL 17, J. Pierpont Morgan cele
brated his G6th birthday. The New York
correspondent for tho Chicago Chronicle says that
the past year was the most disastrous of Mr. Mor
gan's life; that during that period "he lost much of
tho prestige in the opinion of the banking wond
which ho had built up in a lifetime of successes."
This correspondent adds: "A year ago Mr. Mor
gan was tho recognized leader of finance the world
ovor. Now he is referred to as 'the man who was.'
A year ago the money of tho capitalists of the
world was at his command. Now Morgan ven
tures aro regarded with suspicion, not only by
tho great capitalists, but the small investor. Ttfis
changed attitude is more marked abroad, accord
ing to cable dispatches, than in America. Tho
cause is the collapse in values of a number of
tho undertakings engineered by Mr. Morgan."
DURING-ttte month of April, 1904, the com
mon shares of the steel trust sold at S8.
The Chronicle correspondent says: "$58,000,000
of this issuo was worth $193,000,000. Now the
stock is selling at 11, a shrinkage of $137,250,000.
Tho preferred stock of the steel corporation was
80 a year ago. It is 61 now. On the original issu6
of $508,000,000 the shrinkage amounts to $137,1C0,
000. In the steel stocks alone the public is
$247,410,000 poorer than it was on Mr. Morgan's
last birthday. Mr. Morgan's other great enter
prises, the International Mercantile Marine com
pany, tho ocean steamship trust, was doing quite
well a year ago. Its common stock was selling at
16 and its preferred at 357 The prices now are 5
and 18 respectively. On the $48,000,000 of common
stock this represents a loss of $5,280,000, and on
the $52,000,000 of preferred a loss of $8,840,000.
This is not the total loss, however. The com
pany has $5,000,000 4 per "cent bonds which a
year ago were worth 90. The bid price is now 50.
This is a shrinkage of $20,000,000, or a total of
$34,140,000 on all the issues of the company. An
other defeat encountered by Mr. Morgan was the
merger 'decision by -the United States supremo
court."
ISIDORE DUBOIS is purser of the steam
ship Zeeland, and also the editor of the Red
Star News. Tho Washington correspondent for
the Chicago Tribune says that the Zeeland ar
rived at New York April 19 and that its passen
gers report that Editor Dubois secured a "scoop"
on the bounding main by publishing the first war
extra ever issued on the Atlantic. The Tribune
correspondent explains: "Usually the sea paper is
published when the liner gets in touch with Nan
tucket. The Zeeland was more than 500 miles
east of Sandy Hook Sunday afternoon at 1:38
o clock when it got in wireless touch with tho
TJmbria, bound to Liverpool, which gave the Zee
land the latest war news. The editor regarded it
of so much importance that he broke all prece
dents and speed records by getting out an extra
within a half hour after receiving the Umbria's
message. The extra was printed a day ahead of
the regular edition, and was entitled 'First West
Bound Edition.' This is it: 'Last Wednesday
fi?1?1 l3' Wa? reported and officially confirmed
that the Russian battleship Petropavlovsk was
X byA,thG, JfPr?SQ by means a San
5 nn Admlral Makaroff and his staff and crew
of 800 men were drowned. Grand Duke CvrM
was saved from death only bv a mirX ?
his brother, Grand Duke Boris, w SSSed T he
catastrophe through a marine glass.' "
T H ?-nSS w1 dflcienc' appropriation bill as
X reported to the senate contnfno nn .
ment to the Hitt exclusion WU which Wn nd"
cepted by tho house. An Associaef T,rl S ,EC"
patch from Washington says "The H?r? hm
was introduced in the senate by Mr Penl ll
referred to the committee on foreign SEEL ?d
this committee the discovery hn w !rs ln
said, that tho bill win ffi th X? mad.e ifc ls
the Chinese coSlli
and, to a considerable mttpnt t ,canal zone
this country of Chinese S Knri?,,0duct!on into
portation from HawaH th? ?Sf and the de"
country subject t .the SurisWcuK61"13 any
States' of any person hS!i 1 n f the UnIti
meaning of 'OjTL the
been, made to the fJSSkJ ft
' - .VOLUME, NUMBER 15,
TH E sections to wblcluoppositlon is made nr
, f"r: ' "That ,the said las S, re-en!
acted extended and continued shall be so Cnn
strued as to permit the entrance into or S5"
denco within the United States and any territn. J
subject to it jurisdiction of those persons
Chinese descent who are citizens of the Tinit,i
States by reason of birth and those who are sup
cifically granted by law such privilege and
others. That the words 'Chinese persons' or Vr
son of Chinese descent; as used in said Jaws shall
be construed to mean any person -descended froi
an ancestor of the Mongolian race, which ancestor
is now or was at any time subsequent to the
1800 a subject of the emperor of China- and m
any proceeding or examination in relation to tho
exclusion of a person- alleged to be such a person
conducted by tho government the' statemont under
oath of a duly appointed immigration or inspec
tion officer that he believes such person to be a
Chinese person or a perspn of Chinese descent
shall constitute sufficient proof thereof, unless
such person shall establish, by affirmative evidence
to the satisfaction of tho officer or tribunal
charged with the determination of the question
that such is not the fact" .question,
IT I S explained by tho Washington correspon
dent for the Associated 'press that when tho
senate committee on foreign matters began the
consideration of the Chinese bill, it was believed
it would be reported as expeditiously as it passed
the house, and if passed, no objection would be
made to it as an amendment to the general de
ficiency bill. By tho words in the first quoted sec
Hon;, "?a SPY. territory subject to its jurisdic
Hon,'.,(,tbe Unlted states) was suggested that
the bill might be of wider scope than was at first
thought. Then the other section, defining the
words, "Chinese person," were called to attention,
and it was suggested that the bill might be of
wider scope than was at first thought. Then tho
other section, defining the words, "Chinese per
son," were called to attention and it was sug
gested that these might be held to relate to many
Filipinos Koreans and others not Intended to be
included, and that the passage of the bill mignt
be .in conflict with the existing treaties. It was
concluded that no action would be taken on tho
Penrose bill, in view of the fact that the Hitt
amendment was reported in the deficiency bill,
but that the matter might be discussed in the
open senate. It is" understood "that an attempt
will be made to pas's the measuro!tbefore the de
t flciency bill passes the seriate.
THOSE who are interested in watching the
progress of the Parker boom may better un
derstand the forces behind that affair by observ
ing the fact that August Belmont, tho New Yoik
financier, is Mr. Parker's closest adviser. The New
York Tribune of April 16 says': "On a flying visit
to this city yesterday, Chief Judge Alton B. Par
ser neld a consultation with August Belmont and
William F. Sheehan ' on the platform to be
adopted at the state convention on Monday. They
went over an expurgated edition of the platfoim
drafted by Mr. Hill, over which the- exsenator and
Judge Parker had a difference. This has been re
vised to suit Judge Parker's views, and yester
day it was submitted to -Mr. Belmont and Mr.
bneenan. Judge Parker came down in the morn
S?" ,Ho,was met by Mr. Sheehan' and went to Mr.
bheehan s home. Later came Mr. Belmont and the
tnree took luncheon together. After luncheon they
discussed politics. Judge Parker went home at
4.dUo clock. He saw no one save Mr. Belmont
and his host."
SIR EDWIN ARNOLD, who died recently
in London, won his greatest fame in 1879
through the publication of "The Light of Asia."
Keterring to this great author, a writer in the
isew York Tribune says: "When once asked how.
ne could be poet and journalist at the same time
fair Edward said: 'That question demands many
? ws of spaco to answer. Briefly, the reason
is that whatever men do interests me. Their
hopes aspirations, joys, fears, sufferings, trials,
temptations are all absorbing subjects to me. I
am a poet because I am a journalist becauso 1
am, in heart, of tho people. ,The most poetical
Place I know of is Fleet' Street It differs very
much from the slopes of Fujisan and tho beautiful
open sea, but there is nothing so interesting to mo
?, humanity. Heine said, as you know, "Send a
Philosopher to Fleet Street, but, "for God's sake,
aon t send a ppet there!" That was because he was
an invalid. ..I would say; "Send- a poet to Fleet
i ? , et hIm work everyday ttfere, and learn
in U8ln,es8 can. accommodate myself to any
hi
wbuiii,jr, -